And Then There Were Eight

I quite liked a number of his ideas, and to be honest I'm kinda surprised he's the first to go. From everything I've seen, he's contributed far more than Karen McCrimmon (who sends campaign correspondence full of typos from a fucking Hotmail account), David Bertschi (who just delivered "the first of six major policy speeches" three months into the contest and two weeks before supporter signups close), and Martin Cauchon (who's actually got quite a nice website, but hasn't made much of a case to vote for him). Murray might, MIGHT, have an outside shot, to the extent that if I was to bet on someone other than Justin, it'd be her. I'm not opposed to the idea of cooperation in principle, but I think it has to skew more red than orange to avoid losing a lot of centrist votes to the Conservatives, and I don't see any way the NDP agrees to that. Should they, given the right parameters? Ideally... yeah. But the odds of that happening are nil.

So given that it's effectively over, and Justin Trudeau is going to be the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada... why, if you haven't already, should you sign up as a Liberal supporter to vote for leader at this point? A few reasons.

Of course, this assumes that you think the Liberal party is best suited to run the country. I won't get into a lengthy sales pitch, but in short, evidence-based policy, legal weed, and an approach to governing that demonizes neither the poor nor the wealthy but works to find a middle ground from which we can all move forward as a united country. That's why I'm a Liberal. If that sounds like something you can believe in, do more research and if you're still with me, sign up and read on.

There's a lot of talented people running for leadership. They've got a lot of great ideas. Justin Trudeau, left to his own devices, might implement them. He might not. However, he's professed that he wants to listen to the grassroots, and that he doesn't want to lead from the top down. It's not the first time someone's said this, but let's take him at his word. Aside from general political cynicism, I see no reason not to.

April 6th, all the candidates that haven't dropped out are going to be in Toronto for a showcase. They're going to throw parties to try and buy your vote with sweet sweet liquor. If there's a candidate *coughMarthaHallFindlaycough* who has a great policy idea that will benefit Canadian families *coughEndSupplyManagementcough* but which might not end up happening if they don't win the leadership... you've got an opportunity to attend their party. To network. To plant seeds in the minds of people from across the country that this is something that needs to happen. To give them motivation and inspiration to go home and push this agenda to their local party reps, and to give them the rhetorical tools they need to kick ass and make it happen. To create a movement of Liberals across the country who will ensure that this conversation takes place on the floor of the next Liberal policy convention, and that it ends with the Liberal party standing with Canadian families and Canadian farmers against the lobbyists holding us back from competing on the global stage we have the skills and resources to own.

All right, that got a bit heavy. But seriously, getting involved in politics has had a huge and positive impact on my life. I can't recommend it enough. Tickets are $150 if you don't donate, but if you sign up for monthly donations of $10 you get $50. I'm pretty sure you could cancel that automatic donation immediately afterwards if you were so inclined.

If you're thinking about doing this, do it. Pull the trigger. I assure you that it'll be a great experience.